Nominees Announced for 2017 Superintendent of the Year (SOTY) Award

(Austin)—Regional winners of the annual Superintendent of the Year (SOTY) award have been announced. Sponsored by the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB), the SOTY program has recognized exemplary superintendents for excellence and achievement in educational leadership since 1984.

Regional superintendents of the year nominated by regional selection committees are:

Region

Name

ISD

1

Arturo Cavazos

Harlingen CISD

2

Maria Vidaurri

Robstown ISD

3

Robert Jaklich

Victoria ISD

4

Thomas Randle

Lamar CISD

5

Scott Campbell

East Chambers ISD

6

Denise Monzingo

Rockdale ISD

7

LaTonya Goffney

Lufkin ISD

8

Judd Marshall

Mount Pleasant ISD

10

John Chapman

Ennis ISD

11

Jim Vaszauskas

Mansfield ISD

12

Marcus Faulkner

China Spring ISD

13

Tommy Hooker

Thrall ISD

14

Jason Cochran

Eastland ISD

15

Wes Beck

Early ISD

16

Donna Hale

Miami ISD

17

Julee Becker

Slaton ISD

18

Amy Jacobs

Coahoma ISD

19

Jeannie Meza-Chavez

Tornillo ISD

20

Jeff Cottrill

Knippa ISD

Candidates are chosen for their strong leadership skills, dedication to improving educational quality, ability to build effective employee relations, student performance, and commitment to public involvement in education. Superintendents from any of Texas’ 1,028 local school districts are eligible for nomination by their school boards. Local nominees are submitted to a regional selection committee, which chooses one nominee to send to the state selection committee. The annual awards program is underwritten by Balfour.

The state committee will interview regional winners in Austin on August 25-26 and select five state finalists. The Superintendent of the Year will be announced October 7 at the 2017 TASA/TASB Convention in Dallas.

TASB is a nonprofit association established in 1949 to serve local public school boards. School board members are the largest group of publicly elected officials in the state. The districts they represent serve more than 5.3 million students.